A Smith at Smith

[smithcollege-deactivated2019071]

Packing up leftovers from Smith dining rooms to deliver to local homeless shelters was a no-brainer for Sibyl Brown ’14, who founded a chapter of the Food Recovery Network at Smith.

“Recovering food from our dining rooms is such an easy way to help ease the need that exists,” says Brown. “It’s food that is already being made and would otherwise be thrown out.”

[smith-at-smith-blog]

hey I just think that Bryn Mawr might be so much cooler n hip than Smith cough cough hi Abby

cough cough I wonder who this could be cough cough it certainly couldn’t be a particular Bryn Mawr first year, could it? 

[asmithlife]

“We are Smith”: Rally Day 2016

Originally established in 1876 in commemoration of George Washington’s birthday, Rally Day is an exciting and high-spirited ritual, and, as KMac describes it, “one of Smith’s most festive traditions.” Every year around mid-February, students and faculty gather together in John M. Greene Hall–with the seniors decked in their graduation gowns for the first time, donning hats and headwear of all kinds–to honor four outstanding alums with the Smith College Medal, learn the identity of the Commencement speaker, and basically live up an afternoon off from classes to partake in the festivities. 

Following the “Rally Day Medley,” performed by the Glee Club, an introduction by the President, and the presentations of the Tenured Teaching and Elizabeth B Wyant Gavel awards—given to student-selected faculty and staff for outstanding work— the medalists are called to stage to receive their Smith College Medals and to offer some words of advice to the graduating seniors. This year’s recipients included:

Joan White Harris ‘52, arts patron

Best quote: “Look for the best, do your best, and find the best.”

K. Rea Carey ‘89, business leader

Best quote: “Listen to others. Debate and challenge each other. Hone your beliefs by asking for them to be challenged.”

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy ‘02, documentary filmmaker

Best quote: “Be thankful for where you are and what has been ordained for you, because for many around the world, this is a privilege.”

In her closing remarks KMac finally reveals the identity of the Commencement speaker—this year’s being Megan Smith, U.S. Chief Technology Officer —in addition to the women who will be awarded honorary Smith degrees at commencement—such as cartoonist and memoirist Alison Bechdel, Roslyn Brook, chairman of NAACP board of directors, Ruchira Gupta, active leader in the international fight against sex trafficking, Stephanie D. Wilson, NASA astronaut, and Abby Wambach, American soccer icon.

Although Rally Day is probably most exciting for graduating seniors—the senior section of the house was LIT—it’s always fun when the community comes together to celebrate and take a breather from the everyday chaos.

Check out the link to see the Rally Day convocation in full!

http://www.smith.edu/events/rallyday_webcast2016.php

-Grace

**Note: Phebe Novakovic ‘79, business leader also awarded a Smith College Medal but was unable to attend the event. 

*Campus Center candid courtesy of the Smith College Facebook page. 

[smith-at-smith-blog]

Hi Abby, how did you kill time between submitting your application and getting your decision sent to you? I'm obsessing and overthinking but I can't stop. I just really want to go to Smith! Did you find Smithies to talk to send questions to? What questions did you wish you asked earlier? (sorry this is a lot)

No, thank you for asking all of it! It’s never too much. Waiting for decisions is super stressful, and the best advice I can give is not to worry unduly. You submitted your incredible application, maybe did a shining interview with a cool alum, visited our lovely campus, and now it’s time to sit back and not stress too much (you’ve done all the hard work already!). 

You guys have a Class of 2020 Facebook page so you can meet up with other prospies, and you have the myriad of blogs on Tumblr (like me!) to reach out to! Smith by Smithies is a great resource to whet your Smith appetite on, as well. I was lucky in that I got a wink letter in the beginning of March, so I didn’t wait as long as some other applicants, but I remember how stressful it was waiting. 

As for questions I wish I asked earlier, I don’t really think I had that many- I have a friend from high school a year older than me who’s at Smith, so I asked her a lot of questions. I might have asked more about orgs, but there was a lovely org fest at the beginning of fall semester that helped that along just fine.

[smith-at-smith-blog]

Hello, new Smithies!

Welcome, all of you lovely people who got in ED I and II! Spring semester started a week ago, and the campus is vibrant again. I’m so excited to see all of you visiting campus and getting to know where you’re going to live. I’m also super excited to see all of you prospective students just first visiting Smith to get a feel for it! If any of you have any questions or just want to scream incoherently with joy at me, please message me!

[smithcollege-deactivated2019071]

New York Times columnist Nick Kristof dedicated his Sunday column to “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” the Oscar-nominated film by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy ‘02.

“I don’t know whether [this film] will win an Oscar in its category… but it is already making a difference’” Kristof writes. “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan has promised to change the country’s laws…to crack down on honor killings.”

[alexatsmith-blog]

Rock Climbing @ Smith!

Hey! So Today I wanted to talk about something that I don’t feel gets nearly enough publicity at Smith and that is our awesome Rock Climbing wall!! So, I’m going to give you a run down of the coolest things you can do at the Rock Wall  Ok Ready? Go! 

1. Everything at the rock climbing wall is free!!!

Yep! You heard me right and this is big deal because once you graduate you will never ever find this again. Its free to use the wall, its free to borrow equipment, its free to have someone on staff belay and its free to get belay certified!!

2. Its open 6 days a week including weekends! 

Again awesome! The rock climbing wall has the best schedule of anything I’ve ever seen at smith. In fact its open at such convenient times you have no excuse to not go, so get going! 

3. The staff is awesome and will teach you how to safely climb and belay 

The wall if staffed mostly by super knowledge and friends students (as all Smithies are!) and they will teach you all things you need to know to safely tie in and belay. Then on Tuesday and Fridays you can get belay certified so you can belay other people! 

4. You can borrow equipment!! 

Don’t have you’re own gear? No problem! The wall has harnesses, shoes and chalk bags in all sized for you to borrow!

5.  You will meet a ton of awesome helpful people! 

I didn’t need anyone when I arrived at the wall and know I have a bunch of new friends! You meet people by climbing together and taking turns balaying each other and you’ll always meet someone who can help you with your climbing. 

6. Students play a big part in rock climbing at Smith!

One thing which makes the wall at Smith so special is that students have such a big part in running it. Not only do students staff the wall, but students also set all the routes on the wall which is super cool! 

Ok I hope that convinced you go to try rock at Smith and if you’re not at Smith go try rock climbing wherever you are! Its awesome! 

[smithwithsophia]

Does smith also offer the traditional college experience with parties & what not? I know it seems like a shallow question but I'm trying to figure out everything before I commit!

You probably don’t want to hear my speech about questioning the hegemonic “traditional” college experience. Just because it seems like everyone is having this one experience of college (which they’re not) based on what we see on tv and movies, doesn’t mean that anything else isn’t a quality (if not better) experience. I personally believe that I’m getting more out of my slightly non-traditional college experience than I would be getting at a lot of other schools.

I just spent four months abroad with 1,200 other American college students from all over the country. One of my main takeaways was that while we’re all getting quality educations (though of course with different academic cultures) something most of my friends – from other women’s colleges and liberal arts schools as well as large state universities – had experienced that I hadn’t was the pressure to binge drink several nights a week. Though partying with them was fun, I couldn’t imagine that as my everyday and it made me really glad I go to Smith, where there’s little peer pressure to ruin your liver on such a regular basis. Like every other college campus in America, of course there’s drinking happening at Smith. But the lack of peer pressure and the culture that expects you to drink and shames you if you don’t is pretty much absent. I urge you to evaluate what you think the traditional college experience is and why it’s so important to have. At Smith, you’ll gain lifelong friends and the tools to make you a woman of distinction – and if you want to party you can totally hit up the other five colleges. 

[smithbysmithies]

Come January 25, those you applying ED 2 may not be clamoring around your mailboxes but rather your smartphones and computers to hear your admission decision, but these vintage Smithies share your excitement!

The Early Decision 2 deadlines is right around the corner – it’s this Friday, Jan 1! If you apply now, you’ll find out if you’ve been accepted in a little more than four short weeks. Do you really want to wait until April to join the amazing Class of 2020?

Photo from the Smith College Archives [Photographer: C.C. Burnes; Buildings Subject Files–Capen House, Box 6] 

[smith-at-smith-blog]

Hey Abby! What are your thoughts on living on the Quad? I got into Smith ED and I really love the houses there, but I'm really not one for parties. :/

I really love living on the Quad! I would consider myself a fairly introverted person, which made me a little nervous when I filled out my housing form and indicated my preference for the Quad, but the social life and the community really can’t be beat. 

My house, Cushing, is incredibly warm and friendly, so I started making friends and felt at home basically as soon as I arrived. You can choose to party if you want to, but if you aren’t feeling it and just want to sleep, study or hang out with some friends, it’s laid back enough that no one’s going to question that, either. I prefer the Quad because I like the energy it has even when I’m tired and not in the mood to be around people. You get a lot of different people, some introverted, some extroverted, some who really want to party, some who don’t. You find your niche and your natural rhythm pretty fast.  It’s true that the Quad is a little loud on weekends, but I’ve never had any problems with it; I think that  all of the houses have courtesy hours, and as someone who gets chronic migraines, the noise isn’t bad enough to bother me. 

All in all, the Quad houses are beautiful, they have great community within the house and in the area, and we have a whole bunch of really cool traditions! The Quad is a really great place to live whether or not you want to party! 

 I hope this was helpful! If you want to chat more about life at Smith/the Quad, please feel free to message me!

[smith-at-smith-blog]

Hi Abby, I'm a prospective neuroscience major and I was wondering what you thought of the rigor of the science classes that you've taken so far at Smith? How do they compare to the level of detail in AP class (if you've taken a corresponding one)? What are your thoughts on the teaching style and the helpfulness of the professors?

While I didn’t actually take any APs because my high school didn’t offer them, my experience with the chemistry course I’ve taken this last semester was excellent. 

I had a phenomenal professor in lecture who learned all of our names and gave us really personal treatment especially considering there were about eighty people in the lecture. Her office hours were always really casual, so I never felt intimidated or as though I was wasting her time with questions. While I knew a lot of the material we covered in the course from high school (I took the basic chem course, CHM 111), I would say that it was still very rigorous, and we really went into the theory of inorganic chemistry instead of just crunching numbers and equations. 

Lab was also great, although I made the mistake of taking a night lab, which I wouldn’t recommend for your first semester. A lot of labs can kind of end up being the students doing a lot of steps but not understanding why any of the experiment is happening, but the professor for lab really emphasized and ensured that we understood what we were doing and why we were doing it. There was no spoon-feeding- we had to figure it out for ourselves, but it was what I think a good science course should be like. 

I’ll definitely be more help next semester, because I’ll be taking even more STEM courses, but overall, I’ve been really happy with my experience. 

[smithwithsophia]

hi! i asked this on the smithbysmithies blog as well but i was just wondering what the nonbinary/genderqueer community is like (if it even exists) at smith? since it's a *women's* college, what are smithie's views on those who attend who do not identify as 100% female?

Hey! A lot of Smithies view Smith as a safe place for anyone who isn’t a majority gender – meaning a cis male (you can read about our admissions policy here). There is definitely a nonbinary and genderqueer community, and I while I don’t want to speak for a community I don’t belong to, in my view they seem pretty welcome. Smithies are pretty “you do you” when it comes to gender. 

[smith-at-smith-blog]

As a nonbinary student at Smith, feel free to come chat with me, anon!

[smithbysmithies]

Meet the Org // F1GS

[smithiesmithsmith-blog]

HAPPY WINTER WEEKEND! Every house at Smith holds a winter and a spring formal at the end of each semester, and it’s a fabulous time to bond with your whole house, get dressed up, and have fun with friends! Usually an a cappella group performs, and this year, we even had 4 groups share their jams with us! Two of the groups were Smith groups, and two of the groups were all male groups from other colleges that they partnered with. These pics are from the beautifully decorated Cushing house living room:) The decorations are thanks to our wonderful housekeeper Linda, and the students who made the little cut out paper snowflakes that are all over the walls during a house-bonding event the Thursday before. It was such a fun night! 

[smith-at-smith-blog]

AHHH I'm so excited to be coming to Smith next year! I just want to keep talking about it! Could I ask what some of your favorite things about Smith are? :D

I’m so excited that you’re coming, too! And of course you can ask me, I love talking about how great Smith is! This short list here is not in any particular order, but here are some of my favorite things:

1. My house. I live in Cushing, which I absolutely love. It’s one of the houses that makes up East Quad, and we have a great house community. We celebrate house birthdays monthly with cake that our wonderful housekeeper Linda buys for us, our house mascot is the bunny, and our house is always beautifully decorated through the efforts of Linda (we really love Linda) and other Cushingites.

2. The professors. My Chem professor recognizes and greets me by name from a lecture of one hundred students. My Greek professor buys our class pizza and other food items weekly. My liberal arts advisor gives me great advice about life at Smith (in case you couldn’t guess) and encourages me greatly with even the few meetings that we’ve had as advisor/advisee. 

3. The Botanic Garden. I work in the Botanic Garden, which is a privilege and honestly the source of a lot of joy in my life (especially seeing as I don’t have to work in the dining hall like other first years). The entire campus is a botanic garden, and our conservatory/greenhouses are absolutely gorgeous. While this winter has been mild, the tropical room is blissfully warm and great to study/relax in. We also have a coffee tree, which makes me very happy as a coffee-drinker. 

I could go on. I really could. It took a lot of effort to stop here!

[neverfacedthemusic]

I got into Smith College ED HOOORRRAAAY! 

[smith-at-smith-blog]

I’m so happy for you! 🎉 If there’s any questions I can answer for you or if you just want someone to be super excited about Smith with, please message me!

[wordsnquotes]

gemütlichkeit

(ɡəˈmo͞otlikˌkīt) An untranslatable German word, gemütlichkeit is a beautiful feeling derivative from a positive experience which causes one to feel peacefully happy, cozy, fulfilled and socially accepted. It is a sense of belonging and being comfortable in one’s skin; you possess a peace of mind and a state of warmth.  (via wordsnquotes)